Method of and apparatus for manufacture of metal wool pads



C. FIELD April 7;, 3942.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURE OF METAL WOOL PADS 18 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 24, 1938 I, I l 78 49 5 RE 4 of n my m 5 4% m M m v. A Y T F LO 4 AM u R B mm I :E E5 :E R K E C K 5 M M y R s E I m m i W E I K m w R E D D m April 7; 1942. c. FIELD 2,278,979

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURE OF METAL WOOL PADS Filed Dec. 24, 1938 18 Sheets-Sheet 2 I fl/M I INVENTOR Crosby field ATTORNEY AWE 7, 1942. Q FIELD 2,278,979.

METHOD'OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURE OF METAL WOOL PADS Filed Dec. 24, 1938 18 Sheets-Sheet 3 \NVENTOR Crosby file/d BY. MW

ATTORNEY c z. FIELD April 7, 1942.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURE OF METAL WOOL PADS 1a She etS-Sheet 4 7% M A r W a a Md 4 J1. :J 9 W J! 8 M am a N cm 3 w m w. 8 4 1 b w m e w 1 PM a M flue 99 Mac w M. i w .m @w w7 g W W w a. 7 1 m m 1 m Offwv X B 4 O o QC? Z 1f WW I 9 7 7 7 3 1 3 J k 1, n W A r.

ATTORNEY April 7, 1942. f EL 2,278,979

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURE-OF METAL WOOL PADS Filed Dec. 24, 1938 l8 Sheets-Sheet 5 .v

o l O o INVENTOR Crosby 0; BY 98 r 0 A o A 4 'Q ATTORNEY April7,1 i942. A Q I D 2,273,979,

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURE OF METAL WOOL PADS Filed Dec. 24, 1938 18 Sheets-Sheet 6 I'NVENTOR Crosy Tald ATTORNEY April 7, i942. HELD 7 2,278,979

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURE OF METAL WOOL PADS Filed Deb. 24, 1938 l8 Sheets-Sheet 7 INVENTOR Crosby 1229M ATTO R N EY April/7, 1942. Q HELDv 2,278,9'yg

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURE OF METAL WOOL PADS Filed Dec. 24, 1938 18 Sheets-Sheet 8 April 7, 1942. c. FIELD 2,2

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURE:OF METAL WOOL PADS Filed Dec. 24, 1932; I 1a Sheets-Sheet 9 INVENTOR Crosby Field A April 7, 1942. c. FIELD Y 2,278,979 METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURE OF METAL WOQL PADS.

Filed Dec. '24, 1938 18 Sheets-Sheet 1O INVENTOR Crosby Field l ATTORNEY April 7, 1942. c. FIELD T 2,278,979

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURE OF METAL WOOL PADS Fild De. 24, 1938 1s Sheets-Sheet 11 III] I III I IEIIIIIII INVENTOR v Croay 152M ATTORNEY April 7, 1942. c. FIELD I 2,2 8

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MA NUFACTURE jOF METAL WOOL PADS File dl Dec. 24, 1938 l8 Sheets-Sheet l3 1 3M +31 I I w A JA- INVENTOR Crosby ATTORNEY April 7, 11942. c. FIELD 2,273,979 .METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURE OF METAL WOOL PADS I Filed Dec. 24, 1938 18 Sheets-Sheet l4 02 W: I 3 309 3040, 165 A 11a n WK. 3/3

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ATTORNEY April 7, 1942. I Q EL 2,278,979

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURE OF METAL WOOL PADS mvaN-ron J Crosby Fzld i a Mm ATTORN EY April'], 1942.. c, E I 2,278,979 I METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURE OF METAL wooL PADS Filed Dec. 24, 1938 18 Sheets-Sheet 16 :I L i l 135 136 13? O 153' 341' I I Q 0 E1 7 352 55 5;

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IN\-IENTOR Crosby Fable! ATTORNEY April 7, 1942. Q E D 2,278,979

METHOD OF' AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURE OF METAL WOOL PADS Filed Dec. 24, 1938 I 18 Sheets-Sheetl7 315 INVENTOR v 3/ 3/23 l C as'y hei ATTORNEY April'7, 1942.- c. FIELD 2, METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURE OF METAL WOOL PADS Filed Dec. 24, 1958 1a Sheets-Sheet 1s *w IIIIII INVENTOR Crosy 1319822 ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 7, 1942 UNITED STTES METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANU- FACTURE OF METAL 'WOOL PADS Crosby Field, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Brillo Manufacturing Company, -I-nc., a'corporation of New York. I

Application December 24, 1938, Serial No. 247,727

29 Claims.

The present invention is disclosed herein in connection with methods and apparatus primarily adapted for the special purposeof making pads from steel or other metal wool; but various features may be useful where the articles are not pads, orth material is not metal wool.

The apparatus includes a padder; consisting of a suitable rotor carrying a multiplicity of pad forming units, each unit operating to make one pad during one revolution of the rotor; said padder in its present form being adapted to deliver 390 completed pads per minute, that is, 5 per second; and the problem of disposing of the pads v at'such high rate is solved by providing the padder with means for holding ejected pads, in combination with cooperating, ynchronously driven mechanism successively removing the pads from the holding means, arrangin them in stacks ofsix, delivering them into the feed pocket of a conveyer and ejecting the stacks, two stacks at a time, into cartons presented by a boxmaking machine but the box machine is-not part f my present invention.

The padder includes a power driven cylindrical structure having a long hub sleeve revolving on a stationary shaft. Rigid with this hub is a con:

bers measured amounts of steel wool, each sufii cient for a pad, preferably introducing it through the side walls of the compression space; also means for compressing the wool to form the pad; also means opening the compression space for removal of the compressed pad, preferably embodying the compression end and two or more sides of the compression chamber.

Preferably there is an intermediate forming operation which consists in rolling the steel wool I to cylindrical form, before compressing it, this being effected, preferably by means of continuously rotating spinning needles which are thrust endwise into the wool.

An important feature of the invention is having said spinning needles cooperate as part of a novel method for introducing a measured amount of wool into the compression space, as'follows:

Thesteel wool is supplied in the form of a continuous fluffy strip comprising a large numberof long curly springy fibers that extend more or less longitudinally of the strip, so that the strip; as a whole has very substantial longitudinal springiness and when stretched will oppose spring ten sion which rapidly increases as its elastic limit is approached. Long curly fibers as blown off from a predetermined number of knives of wool cutting machines'such as shown in my prior Patent No. 1,608,481, readily form a continuous strip having the above qualities. Such machinesare not part of my present invention; and, as here'- inafter explained, my padder is preferably made independent thereof, by cutting the strips into lengthsas long as can be conveniently handled} thentransferring to my padder; and there the lengths are successively spliced end to end to keep up a continuous strip supply adequate to the great capacity of said padder.

With such a strip a predetermined weight of wool maybe ensuredior a given length of strip, by uniformly stretching each length to uniform tension, before it is cut off. Such uniform tensioning may be effected by traction mechanism which pulls the strip through idler rolls which are adjusted to afford only a predetermined substantially uniform resistance to such traction; and while thus tensioned, cut-off mechanism, lo-

cated a predetermined distance in the rear of the traction point, operatesat predetermined intervals to out 01f the measured, similarly tensioned strips, so that each out 01f length contains sufficient wool for one pad.

Cutting off such equally-tensioned lengths, frees them. from tension, so that they shorten and again become more fluify; meanwhile control of the strip is preserved by having the traction means engage and hold an intermediate portion of the strip in operative. relation to-a forming chamber, the cross-section of which is preferably the same as the larger area dimensions of the pads. V

In this forming chamber, opposite, continuously-rotating spinning needles are forced laterally into the strip. These needlesare aligned and rotate in planes parallel with the length of the strip so that the then untensioned end portions of the fluffy strip; are wound in a few fluify layers, the volume of which maybe several times the volume of the pad to be made therefrom.

On each spinner there are preferably two neepressors;

dles located eccentrically to their axis of rotation so that the interior of the thus wound fluffy layers consist of layers extending more or less diametrically between the needles, and the exterior layers wound on the outside of said needles i tend toward elliptical; when the needles are withdrawn, the outer layers become cylindrical. This cylindrical structure of the mass and its fiufiiness, particularly at the center, are important as concerns uniformity of distribution of the wool when subjected to the final step of the method which is compressing the relatively large diameter cylinder to flatten it to the shape of a relatively thin pad.

The above and other features'of my invention Will be better understood from the following description of a desirable embodiment thereof, in

connection with the accompanying drawingsjin which I Y Fig. 1 is a plan diagram ofthe entire apparatus; 1

Fig. 1a is a'more or less schematic sideelevation showing therelations of the rotary padder, 'viewedfrom the front or entrance end; 1

f Fig. 4 isa vertical sectional view of the rotary 'padder longitudinally of the axis thereof, approximately on the line 44 of Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a vertical transverse section on the line5-5,*Fig.'4;' showing all the pad forming unitsand operating mechanisms for thecom- Fig. 6 Fig. 5; Fig. '1 is a vertical section on the line 1-1, Fig. 4, showing the external epicycloidal gearing for rotating the shafts that each carry cams andsprockets for actuating various parts of the pad forming mechanism;

Fig. 8 is a section on the line 8-8,;Fig; 4, showing camsand actuating mechanism for the strip clamping and cut-off mechanisms;

Fig. 9 is a similar'section on the line 9-3,

isa detail section on the line 6-6,

Fig. 4, showing cams and mechanism for actuating the forming chamber, or boxer which constitutes the end and two side walls of, the compression space;

Fig. 10 is a similar sectionon the line lil -l0, Fig. 4, showing cams and mechanismfor reciprocating the. spinners in and out of operative relation to the ribbon, also the drive for th spinners; H v v Fig. 11 is a similar view on the line I'l-H,

Fig. 4, showing sprocket gearing for continuously rotating the spinners;-

Fig. 11a is a section on the line Ila-Ila, Fig. 11, showing the drive shaft and gear for rotating said Sprocket gearing; g

a Fig. 12 is a detail view, in section on the lin 12-12, Fig. 4, showing the face cam and lever for reciprocating one of the spinners; also rear view of the bell cranks for reciprocating the boxer;

Fig. 13 is a sectional view of the same on the line l3-I3, Fig. 4;. Fig.14 is a section on the line 14-14 of Fig. 15;

Fig. 15 is a top plan of the strip clamping and cut-offmechanism; i

Fig. 16 is a detail view of the same on the line iii-l6, Fig. 14; Figs. 1'7 and 18 are detail perspective views of the strip clamp and strip severing knives, respectively;

Fig. 19 is a vertical'section on a much larger scale, showing not Only the lower part of the padder and take-off, as in Fig. 5, but also the take-off, counter, evener, stacker, etc.;

' Fig. 20 is a sectional view on the line 20-20, Fig. 19, showing the pusher and operating means;

Fig.2!l is a sectional Fig. 20;

Fig. 22 is a section on the line 22-2, Fig. 19,

view on the line 2l-2l,

showing the vertical guide belts conveyer and i and Fig.

I sage of apocketconveyer;

Fig. 39; I

. poc

. Fig. 29 is a plan view of the single and double stack packers, pocket conveyer and synchronized drives for various movements of the mecha nisms; .H a

.Fig. 30 is a detailv view of operating parts of the double stackpacker;

Q'Fig.;31 is aside elevation of the same parts and. drive for synchronizing the stack packers v with pocketconveyer;

Figs. 32 and 33 are respectively, plan and side elevations of side-guide belts of the single stack packer that packs each stack into a conveyer Fig; 34 is a top view of the side-guide belts, single stack packer, transverse pocket conveyer, two stack packer, and, mechanism for driving I said sideide belts;

Fig. 35 is a section on the line 35-35, Fig. 34; and Fig. 36 is a section on the line 36-36, Fig. 34;

Fig. 37 is a section on the line 31-31, Fig. 31, and. shows mechanism for synchronizing the packet conveyer with, the single and double stack packers; jv r Fig. 38 is a section on the line 38-38, Fig. 30, and shows in planview the double stacker pusher;

Fig. 39 is aside elevation of the partsshown inFig.38; In j j Fig. 40 isa cross section on the line 40-40,

' Figs. 41 and 42 are views like Figs. 22 and 23 respectively; but showing modified side guides for the single stacker, whereby the guide belts are dispensed with; Fig. 41 being a section on the line .4l-4I, Fig. 42; and Fig. 42 being a section on the line 42-42, Fig. 41;

Fig. 43 is a detail view showing important parts of the side guides for stacking the pads, as in Fig.41, but on a much larger scale; and

Fig. 44 is a transverse section on line 44-44, Fig. 41. i

In these drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan diagram indicating in a general way the relation of all the cooperating groups of mechanism; and Figs. 1a, 

